Metamorfosi delle virtù d'Amore nella Firenze medicea. Una lettura della tavola 39 dell'Atlante Mnemosyne

Plate 39 of Mnemosyne Atlas is focused on the figure of Venus and her Triumphs as well as on the daemon of Eros, the winged genius of Love. The plate focuses on the so-called Botticelli's mythological cycle – The Birth of Venus, Primavera, Pallas and Centaur: the central theme is closely related, from the historical standpoint, to the Medici's patronage, to the philosophy of Marsilio Ficino, and to the relationship of love and death between Giuliano de Medici and the "nymph" Simonetta. The reading of the plate describes how in the same cultural context an ideal style "all'antica" was born and how it appears via the “wind-blown garment” of the moving figures in the scenes of metamorphosis and passional abductions. The subject of metamorphosis leads to a cronological and geographic shift, from the Florence of the Medici to further cultural contexts. The theme of the power of Love is intertwined with that of Art as ways to achieve immortality: both erotic and poetic mania can be considered media for the Neoplatonic reunion between man, as a lover and as an artist, and the Divine.